OSCODA - April 8, 2006 - Finally given the chance to get outside, Hale and Oscoda traded big innings in their softball opener on Thursday, with the Owls getting the best of the Eagles twice by scores of 10-8 and 18-8.

"We hit the ball well," said Hale coach Todd Herzog. "Errors really shot us in the foot, but it was a lot better than our opener last year."

Oscoda took a 3-0 lead in the first game, but Hale came back to score three in the fourth and five in the fifth to go up 8-3.

The Owls put six on the board in the fifth inning and added one in the sixth.

"We had some good baserunning and key hits," Herzog said. "We made some nice defensive plays, but we missed a lot of easy stuff. We learned a lot."

Oscoda led 8-2 in the second game before the Eagles scored six in the top of the fifth inning to tie it up. Oscoda's 10-rrun rally in the bottom of the fifth ended the contest.

"We made some errors and got our heads down a bit," Herzog said. "Our pitching struggled, we had some injuries, and by the end just about every throw we made was low or high."

Hale (0-2) travels to Lincoln-Alcona on Monday, while the Owls (2-0) host Whittemore-Prescott in their North East Michigan Conference opener.